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1977 Princess 1.8 HL


phil_lihp

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I took advantage of a sunny evening now the clocks have changed, rolled out the Princess and gave it a coat of wax.  This is very much turd polishing, what paint there is isn't worth polishing, but it does make it look slightly better from 10 feet away and protects it a bit.  I did the windows with some glass polish inside and out too, something that was long overdue.  Unfortunately the windscreen has suffered from 28 years of being caked in dust and having things on top of it, a low sun means all I can see is scratches and swirls and the polish hasn't really helped much there.  Still, the windscreen is otherwise undamaged and fine in general daytime use, it's not like I can get a new one from Autoglass.

Polishing has also fully shown up something I was aware of but hadn't seen quite as clearly...the lovely shiny new bonnet paint is breaking out in lots of tiny dimples; it's the same issue that is all over the car.  My mechanic sidelines in bodywork and does good work, he slaved over this bonnet and didn't charge anywhere near the amount of time he put into it fixing corrosion, previous repairs and layers of old paint.  When it was in having its clutch done I didn't really want to bring it up with him but he noticed it straight away and says it's corrosion breaking through again; he couldn't sandblast it as it was too thin and fragile already and did his best with paint stripper and sanding.  I've seen photos of it mid-prep and they spent ages on it but sadly despite being painted with rust inhibitor and primed/painted it's not lasted.  He's offered to have another go at it but he's so busy at the moment I feel bad asking him to.  I'll see how it progresses, it's still by far the best panel on the car and looks fine until you look closely at it but I think it'll have to be redone at some point.

The alternator belt was shrieking again so tightened that up once more - seems to be needed quite regularly but it's now nice and quiet again.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Just as a heads-up, this will be coming up for sale in a few weeks.  The suspension is being topped up on Monday and I have it tentatively booked in to attend the Haynes Breakfast Club meet on 9th May which will be a mildly ambitious run for it and then I'm going to call it a day on this project, it'll be time for someone else to carry it on. 

The main thing it will want for is some bodywork attention, which I'm just not interested in, plus I really need the space at home.  I may get a bit of welding done where it really could do with a repair on the driver's rear sill area and then an MOT before it goes plus a couple of other bits will continue to get fettled in the mean time but overall I am ready to move it on.

Just noticed it is almost exactly 1 year ago I posted this up - time flies!  It was only ever meant to be a fun project during the first lockdown and it fulfilled that brief perfectly, I've had a lot of enjoyment out of it but it's time someone else took it over.

I'm not sure on value, I'd like to think £3k is attainable with it brought up to full MOT standard and it is mechanically very, very good with rebuilt hydragas and a healthy engine plus structurally it is exceptional for an unrestored 45 year old BL product but the paintwork is absolute pants (which I actually quite like) and the interior is a bit tatty.  Personally I thoroughly enjoy its shabby charms and wouldn't want to restore it anyway but it will need some proper TLC at some point to prevent it deteriorating.

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  • phil_lihp changed the title to Phil's 1977 Princess 1.8 HL - Time to Say Goodbye
9 minutes ago, phil_lihp said:

I have it tentatively booked in to attend the Haynes Breakfast Club meet on 9th May which will be a mildly ambitious run for it and then I'm going to call it a day on this project, it'll be time for someone else to carry it on. 

I'm booked in too on that day, I'll keep a look out if you're around! We will both be filling the Somerset air with oily residue and clatter with 1970s B-series. 😆

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2 hours ago, phil_lihp said:

Just as a heads-up, this will be coming up for sale in a few weeks.  The suspension is being topped up on Monday and I have it tentatively booked in to attend the Haynes Breakfast Club meet on 9th May which will be a mildly ambitious run for it and then I'm going to call it a day on this project, it'll be time for someone else to carry it on. 

The main thing it will want for is some bodywork attention, which I'm just not interested in, plus I really need the space at home.  I may get a bit of welding done where it really could do with a repair on the driver's rear sill area and then an MOT before it goes plus a couple of other bits will continue to get fettled in the mean time but overall I am ready to move it on.

Just noticed it is almost exactly 1 year ago I posted this up - time flies!  It was only ever meant to be a fun project during the first lockdown and it fulfilled that brief perfectly, I've had a lot of enjoyment out of it but it's time someone else took it over.

I'm not sure on value, I'd like to think £3k is attainable with it brought up to full MOT standard and it is mechanically very, very good with rebuilt hydragas and a healthy engine plus structurally it is exceptional for an unrestored 45 year old BL product but the paintwork is absolute pants (which I actually quite like) and the interior is a bit tatty.  Personally I thoroughly enjoy its shabby charms and wouldn't want to restore it anyway but it will need some proper TLC at some point to prevent it deteriorating.

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I was going to go to the breakfast club too. May have to cancel now, cause if the Mrs sees that, she will try and make me buy it.

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It's been nice to see the progress made on this one and, hiccups aside, the enjoyment it's brought you.  £1800-3000 would be my guess on the value given the price other Princesses have gone for recently, they're starting to hold their value better these days and solid ones like yours tend to command more because of the scarcity of repair panels.  Good luck with the sale, and I hope Mrs @Cookiesouwest is very happy with her new purchase ;)

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Sad you’re selling it, but your reasoning makes eminent sense and you’ve done a fantastic job in getting it to this point.

Would be great if it stays on here somehow. It appeals to me but I’m lacking space and have an excess of projects.

This has @Shite Ron’s name all over it, doesn’t it?*

 

*I’m not calling Ron a princess here — you know what I mean.

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1 hour ago, Skizzer said:

Would be great if it stays on here somehow. It appeals to me but I’m lacking space and have an excess of projects.

This has @Shite Ron’s name all over it, doesn’t it?*

I do like 70’s brown cars, this cannot be denied, I may also be a Princess,  but only on weekends.

I have really enjoyed seeing this car brought back to life. As much as I love Princesses there are other cars higher on the wish list, and a Lotus Eclat or Elite and V12 Jag are both near the top, added to this my lack of space plus the fact I am a tightwad. I missed out on a Cortina with green interior because I wouldn’t pay three grand. I am not saying this car is not worth three grand, just that I am  stingy and have more cars than garage space.

I hope someone here buys it as I would like to see it used and improved.

 

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  • 2 weeks later...

Just had a very pleasant early Sunday morning blast around North Devon in this one, it really is running and driving remarkably well for a 45 year old unrestored BL product.  I've probably done about 60 miles in the last 24 hours and apart from the alternator belt coming loose again yesterday, which was pretty quick and simple to resolve, it's been behaving very well.  Apart from a couple of issues with dirty fuel early on and a recent whoopsie where I ran it out of fuel, it's been totally reliable - it's clocked up just shy of 600 miles since I got it which is hardly a lot but frankly I'd have expected more issues.  My method of ensuring perishable things like pipes and hoses were all replaced and going through the cooling system has worked out well as I think I've managed to iron out most of the issues before they had a chance to occur.

With the suspension now topped back up the ride and handling are properly sorted; I don't have experience of the competing Citroen hydraulic system but the fully rebuilt and correctly adjusted hydragas system on this car is working really well, it eats up bumps, potholes and rough roads and can be pushed surprisingly hard along windy B roads.  It's only on budgety tyres but it has loads of grip, the handling isn't exactly sharp and the unassisted steering is quite heavy at low speeds but it's really rather pleasant to bomb along in.

Next weekend I want to take the exhaust front pipe off and have another go at the manifold join as it's blowing, I'll reseat the stat housing with the right goop to stop a miniscule leak and might give it another oil change as it's done 500 miles on the stuff I put in last year which is the first change it's had since 1992, then I think I'm more or less done.  It'll be time soon for it to move on to someone who can sort the essential bodywork out and/or give it a more thorough restoration, although if it were me I'd keep it in its survivor state for as long as possible, it wears its history well.

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The Princess got a present in the post today.

No wonder the old one was wonky, the screw holes aren't remotely in line.  It's very battered but will stay with the car.

New one was stuck on for a photo but needs attaching properly at the weekend, I'll have to brave drilling holes in it.

 

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Nothing too horrible hiding under the old plate, just dust, cobwebs and a bit of surface rust.

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This is where I could get carried away with stripping off lights, bumper etc, rubbing the paintwork down and painting it to spruce it up but the valance is crusty anyway so I need to leave it alone, it'd be a bodge anyway.  The new plate doesn't look out of place to me, I was a bit worried it'd look too shiny against the shabby paint and rust backdrop.

I'm toying with the idea of getting it MOT'd before I sell, I know it'll need a bit of welding on the rear sill and probably one or two CV joints but it'd make it more sellable and I think I'd feel better about it, exempt or not.

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Shan't lie, if I had the funds I'd be bending your arm on this one and keeping on with the good work you've invested in it.  You've done all the horrible jobs they normally throw so whoever ends up with it should have a nice time either using it or bringing it to the next level.

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New plate drilled and mounted, after a lot of careful measuring and checking - no going back once the drill bit touched it.  Fortunately it went on nice and straight, in the interests of not going too mad with this whole concours thing I did reuse the original white plastic numberplate screws as they were in good condition and I didn't have any spares.

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I then broke out a new bottle of Autoglym plastic and rubber trim cleaner which I'd actually got to improve the tatty dashboard on my T4 , it worked wonders on the faded, dry Princess interior trim.  The dash top just drank it up, I probably put 4 coats on and it still wasn't great but it's a huge improvement, the door cards came up nice too although they're very sun faded on top.

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It's not left a shiny, sticky residue behind which is good, it's just freshened everything up a bit.  I'm pretty happy with how it's turned out given that it'll never be brilliant without a lot of work to fix the cracked dash, faded door cards and peeling vinyl.

I wiped a bit over the tyres too, for that used car lot showroom appeal.  In the sun, from certain angles, it looks almost presentable.

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It's riding at a nice height now too.

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Tidy looking car, a lot were used as Minicabs as they had plenty of room and good ride comfort. I remember a Wolseley Princess in the Thames Valley Trader mid 80's that had been made into a convertible and tarted up to look like a Maserati Biturbo, the wedge shape was similar and it worked quite well. 

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On 4/18/2021 at 9:37 AM, phil_lihp said:

Apart from a couple of issues with dirty fuel early on and a recent whoopsie where I ran it out of fuel, it's been totally reliable - it's clocked up just shy of 600 miles since I got it which is hardly a lot but frankly I'd have expected more issues.

Had to say it, didn't I?

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It was already on the driveway having been out for a little jaunt Friday night but a bit too far forwards to reach the engine easily.  I wanted to finish off a couple of bits today so I started it, rolled it back a bit, turned it off and got on with removing and refitting the clamp on the exhaust manifold join and re-tensioning the alternator belt again.

Unfortunately I have no idea whether either job was successful as since then it has refused to even think about starting.  When the key is turned to the first stage, the ignition comes on, the seatbelt warning flashes, the appropriate dash lights come on and the fuel pump wakes up.  When the key is turned to the start position, there's a click from under the bonnet and nothing else happens.  I thought maybe I'd overtightened the alternator belt and put too much strains on it but it seemed spot on and loosening it made no difference.

I've been poking around with my meter and there seems to be 12.48v everywhere there should be, no obvious earthing problems and I can't see anything I might have disturbed.  Although it seems odd, given that it's worked perfectly up until now, I think the starter motor has died.  The clunk I hear when turning the key sounds like it's coming from the starter but there's no dimming of dash lights or anything like that.  I even checked the engine still turned freely by hand (it does), so I don't think there's anything else it could be.

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I'll have to see if I get any more time to get the starter out this weekend, there's a local company who should be able to fix it but Sunday's Haynes meet is looking a bit questionable now!

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  • phil_lihp changed the title to Phil's 1977 Princess 1.8 HL - A Failure to Proceed

Change of plan, I decided to grab the last few minutes of daylight today and got  the starter motor out.  Dead simple, both bolts came out easily and there's just two wires to remove.  Both connections look a bit crusty so will get a good clean before it goes back together.

I can't be 100% sure this is the issue, but it doesn't look very fresh. 

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Lots of black sooty residue on the gear end, is that significant or just normal for a 44 year old electric motor? 

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Almost certainly the original so it's done extremely well for something with the word Lucas written on it. 

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Off to Alterstart it goes.

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I am assuming for now that because it's very consistently producing a "click" from the starter when I turn the key that the ignition switch is working, however that did cross my mind.  I'll see what they make of the starter, it looks quite ropey so won't hurt to get it refurbed now it's out.  

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